Head of Albanian Church to the faithful: We must declare our faith

Archbishop Anastasios. Photo: dzen.ru

The Primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church Archbishop Anastasios called on believers to take part in the census of the country’s population – to declare their religious affiliation, reports orthodoxianewsagency.gr.

According to Archbishop Anastasios, participation in the census is very important from the Church's point of view, as its results can "restore the reality regarding the unjust census of 2011".

"This week the census will begin in our country. All countries, but especially ours, need the truth. Often these censuses do not give an exact picture of reality. We have the experience of the previous census, which presented a completely unfair picture regarding Orthodox Christians," the Archbishop said.

According to him, the old censuses of Enver Hoxha's time "clearly gave the numbers that the Orthodox were about 20 per cent and something more. When Hoxha visited Russia, Stalin asked him how many Orthodox Christians there were in Albania, and he said 30 per cent, although this number was not accurate. And in 2011 (the authorities) gave us less than 10 per cent," he said.

The archbishop drew the attention of the faithful to the fact that in the modern census "there is a very subtle point", as the questionnaire says that answering the question to which religious community you belong is optional.

The second "word trap" is the word "practising" in the question about religious affiliation.

"It's a bit of a dangerous word. There are many people who belong to the Orthodox Church, but they are not always consistent in 'practice'... they may not always be consistent in all the obligations imposed by Orthodoxy, but they belong to the Orthodox Church," says the Archbishop.

The question is "Do we want to be Orthodox or not?". If we don't want to, fine. But if we want, they don't have to measure how good we are. We are not always as good as we should be, but we are Orthodox and we must declare it", he concluded.

The Archbishop of Albania highlighted the seriousness to be shown during the census so as to give safe answers to the key question about religious affiliation. "Show caution and responsibility by requiring a note of your religious identity: 'Orthodox Christians,'" urges the head of the Church of Albania.

As earlier reported, the Albanian Church criticised the Phanar's position on Ukraine.

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